Where Deion Sanders Will Be Coaching In 2025 (Hour 3)

Alrighty, hour number three of our radio program, it is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network.

Let's play it for you one more time. Michael Irvin yesterday, obviously on FS1, interviewing Coach Prime on Speak for Yourself. And Coach Prime was asked about maybe having a little interest in the Drama Dallas Chokin' Cowboys job.

Here it is. What place needs people to encourage people to be better than they really are besides Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys? I know you're focused day to day, I know you're a day to day man, but can you think about some days? Let me take the computer here, cause you're starting to talk, I gotta show you where I am. I love it where I am. So, I think it's easy to get on the radio. And I think it's easy to say, hey, you didn't hear him say no. You heard him just say I loved where I am and I love where I am right now. Now with that being said, I know the history and I know what Coach Prime has said. He said he has no interest in coaching in the NFL. Now just cause you say that doesn't mean that that's truthful. How many times did we hear Nick Saban say I'm not gonna be the head coach at Alabama and guess what he did?

He left the Dolphins and he became the head coach at Alabama. So just cause someone says I am not going to leave or I am not interested doesn't mean that they're going to stay. And I appreciate Colorado fans because it's almost how dedicated they are now and how you're leading the charge and it's like we're gonna embarrass, we're going to poke fun at anyone saying that Coach Prime is going to leave and you have to take him for his word. I appreciate that passion, but I don't have to take him for his word. Cause even though people will tell me, but Coach Prime is different, Coach Prime appreciates a school that actually gave him a chance.

Sure. Doesn't mean he's ungrateful if he leaves. Doesn't mean he's not appreciative of what did transpire. I don't think anyone knows what Coach Prime is going to do. But the idea that Coach Prime is so different that he won't be like every other Tom, Dick and Harry that has coached college football and when a bigger job comes calling, he wouldn't take it. If you're going to immediately dismiss anyone that says, hey, there's no way Coach Prime isn't going to leave, I think that's asinine.

I do. Now it's not me saying I believe Coach Prime is going to leave, but I think it's on the table. I do tend to believe him though that he's not going to be coaching in the NFL. I do think NFL programs are going to come calling. You know, we'll see the jobs that open up. We already know that when you take a look around the NFL landscape, the saints are open. So there's jobs that are open. The Jets are open. You know, Chicago should be open at the end of the year. Like there's going to be six or seven jobs that are open. Well, at least one of those NFL teams call up Coach Prime or call Coach Prime's representatives and say, hey, are you interested?

Absolutely. I have a tough time, though, seeing Coach Prime coach in the NFL, at least in the immediate future. And he said this before that the NFL, right, it's not a my way or highway, not that it's that way at Colorado. But there's a lot of more there's a lot of egos that are more present in the NFL that are tougher to navigate, I think, than in college football. And those guys right in the NFL, they go home, they got families, they got lives. I think Coach Prime really enjoys development, like developing kids that are 18, 19, 20, 21 year olds.

And I think that was a big misnomer about Coach Prime, because he came in saying like, oh, I'm going to bring my Louie and all that. And hey, they brought in Travis Hunter, they brought in Chador Sanders, and they've been two of the better players in college football. But look at the roster, the way they revamped it, a lot of it through the transfer portal. But look at the improvements that you've seen from a lot of these players. This team is more than just Chador.

This team is more than just Travis. There has been a lot of development that has gone on with this program, with resources that aren't the same. And in the same category, even though they've improved the NFL immensely, compared to some of the resources that you have in bigger programs. So I do think Coach Prime to me is more of a college coach. And I do think he's going to stay in college. But it doesn't mean that he's going to stay at Colorado. If you put a gun to my head, I do think Coach Prime is going to be back at Colorado next year. But is Coach Prime going to be the coach at Colorado five years from now? That I'm not so certain. And maybe he just walks away.

Maybe he said, hey, I shut everybody up. I proved how great of a coach I was. And I'm good. I'm going to go chill and count my Benjamins that I've earned throughout my life as a player and also as a coach.

And I don't need to do this. And I'll just go back to the media world. That's something a possibility. But you're telling me. And I don't know if it's going to be Florida State because he's not happy with his alma mater. But you're telling me a bigger program opens up in the next two or three years and they call Coach Prime that he's definitely going to stay at Colorado? That I'm not so certain about. And I also think now there's going to be a little intrigue. You know, when LaFleur didn't have Rodgers anymore and people were like, oh, what's Matt LaFleur without Aaron Rodgers? There is going to be a little bit of that in terms of what is Coach Prime as a football coach without Chidor and without Travis Hunter?

I do think that conversation is going to be very, very present in the next year. So I do believe there's still a little motivation and still a box that is left to be checked at Colorado that Coach Prime is going to be looking to check it. But once you check that box and, hey, we don't know what determines you checking that box. Is it just getting eligibility back to back years?

If that's the case and I think that's a fair case, then that box is checked. But Colorado now is a destination and it's a destination because of one man and one man only. Like as great as Chidor is, as great as Travis Hunter is, that job is a destination because of who is the head coach. So I always think they'll be relevant. I'm not going to say that they're going to be in the Big Tall Championship game every year. I'm not going to say they're going to win the Big Tall Championship every year. I'm not even saying they're going to be bowl eligible every year. But they will be relevant. They will be talked about. Like, remember when Paul Finebaum this past summer said, oh, Colorado is irrelevant.

You know, tell me when they do something on the field. You don't have to do something on the field necessarily to always be relevant. Colorado, as long as Coach Prime is there, is talked about. And that is the biggest fear of Colorado fans right now is what happens if Coach Prime does leave. Because the moment he leaves, then, yes, the program becomes irrelevant.

You go back to where you were. You may be able to survive for a year, but now the chance reporter, all those players are going to leave the moment Coach Prime leaves. And I lived it.

Right? I had a relevant school that I went to in the college football landscape, and I know it's not apples to apples. But what Matt ruled was that Temple, that became a relevant program. That became a program that beat Penn State for the first time in 74 years. They beat Vanderbilt. They had college game day come to Philadelphia. And in a short few years after Matt left, the program became irrelevant. There are moments where, and I know Colorado's had national success before, like the highest national success ever. But there are moments when the team that's counted out could be relevant. But when you look back at it, it's really on who's the coach, especially in college, and how long he's able to stay there. So I don't think Coach Prime's going to the NFL.

I know it's a sexy idea. He'll go team up with Travis. He'll go team up with Chidor. That's not going to happen. I would be very surprised if Coach Prime is coaching in the NFL within the next year or two or three. But even with the similarities that college and the NFL now have because of the name, image and likeness, I'm not ruling it out that, hey, just because Coach Prime talks about how much he loves Colorado, he's appreciative of the opportunity that he won't leave.

I think that is a very real, genuine possibility. I'm not saying it's happening this offseason. I don't think it's going to happen this offseason. But within the next five years, whether it's him leaving college, whether it's him going to another college, I do think that Coach Prime, within the next five years, is going to depart Boulder, Colorado. And when that does happen, if you are a Colorado fan, you say two words.

Thank you. That's what you should say. I'm not saying you can't be disappointed because all these fun times that are going to quickly evaporate and going to quickly go away. But Coach Prime elected to go to your university, made them relevant again, brought Chidor, brought Travis with them, potentially two Heisman Trophy candidates, and one could be the winner of the award. And if Colorado wins out in the regular season, they're in the Big 12 championship game. They control their own destiny, get to the Big 12 championship game.

And also, they would be very much so alive. And I mean very much so alive to take down BYU in the Big 12 championship game if they are, in fact, going up against BYU. Alrighty, real quickly, I want to get to something about Aaron Rodgers. So two games ago, because they beat the Texans and they lost to the Arizona Cardinals. So it's two games ago. I was at the Texans-Jets game, and I went into that game with the Jets being, they were two and five entering that game. And they were entering that game, they were two and five. And I thought to myself, what's the story going into this one?

The story is, excuse me, they were two and six. They were two and six going into that Texans game. And the story going into that game was the Jets are a disaster. And then after the first half went the way that it did where the Jets were lifeless, I thought to myself, hmm, what's the point of Aaron Rodgers sticking around?

What's the point of Aaron Rodgers coming back next season? So I did what a good media member does. I walked down to the press conference, you know, let more important questions or the guys that cover the team regularly ask their questions. And then I found the little lane that opened up and I said, hey, Aaron, I know you had an incredible second half last night.

I know the team won in their three and six, but with only eight regular season games left at the time and you turning 41 in about a month, I'm just curious, has the idea that these next two months could be your last in the NFL as it crossed your mind? That was my question. And Aaron looked at me. You could tell he wasn't going to answer the question, right? He wasn't going to expand upon the question that much in his answer. He chuckled and he was like, I thought the chuckle was like, hey, nice try. But I think he like patted me on the head and said, hey, Zach Geld, nice try. And then he said, no.

Well, today, about an hour ago. Aaron Rodgers, when talking to the media, we have this sound. All right, let's play it.

Go ahead. Here is the Aaron Rodgers sound from an hour ago. Listen up. You've talked about wanting to play beyond this year. Has the way this season gone for you or as a team changed that at all? Not really.

Not for the negatives. No, not really. I think you want to play in 2025?

I think so, yeah. So I guess technically he didn't lie to me because I said, has it crossed your mind that these are the last two months of your career? You know, it has technically crossed his mind. But when you ask that question, I'm basically asking, are you going to consider retire after retirement after after the season? And the way that he just answered that question was basically, I plan on coming on back next year.

You know, I don't think it's turned towards the negative. So it looks like the Jets are going to have to run it back next year with Aaron Rodgers, right? You have Devonta Adams, you have Garrett Wilson, you have Breece Hall. I'm sure there's going to be analysts at some point in the offseason, Stu.

You know this. They're going to get on all these hot take shows and go, you know, the Jets last year were a disaster, but they have so much talent. We'll see who ends up taking over that head coaching job.

And some will try to make the case for the Jets to make the playoffs next year. But Stu, I just can't take the bait. I can't. And if I'm Aaron Rodgers, quite frankly, I retire. You are a Hall of Famer.

First ballot. You're perceived to be a top 10 quarterback of all time. Yes, you didn't win a second Super Bowl.

That's disappointing. But I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze to come on back and play next year. I don't. And if I'm him, I would walk away, even though it's tough to go out like this and just start that clock from ticking on down until when your eligibility starts to then open up for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Like, I just don't see the game outside of the addiction and the love for football and Rodgers's other interests outside of football. Why, Rodgers will want to go back to the Jets next year, unless if it's just his hubris where he's so overconfident and he just doesn't see the downfall that has transpired.

So, yeah, I agree with you. I don't think he should, but I think he absolutely will be back next season. I would be I'd be stunned if he's not back. I wouldn't be stunned. I think he'll be back if I had to say it right now.

And it shows you how fugazi he was right when I went into the cave. I went into the mindset that I was going to retire and then I emerged from the darkness retreat and I said, let me go to the Jets. I see the Jets as the light to the end of this tunnel, which is just so stupid looking back at it. But if I am the odds makers here and 100 percent, I'd say there's a back with the Jets next year. I think there's an 88 percent chance.

And then I think there's a little bit carved out to retirement. And then I think there is the smallest percent chance, like a one percent chance that he tries to go somewhere else this offseason. But I do think that he's going to be back like we know Jets fans could be suckers.

Are they are they really going to hike? I know that this team thought they were back after being the Texans and they got smacked by the Cardinals. Is there any reason to believe, Stu?

And you've been around a lot of train wrecks before NFL franchises. Is there any reason to believe that next year is going to be any different? Don't think so.

No, I it can't be right. I guess it could get a little bit better. Maybe a seven win team. Can it get any worse? I would hope not. But I just don't see what the game would be for Aaron Rodgers to come on back next season outside of the fact that he just wants to.

And it's never easy to walk away from something that you've been around and you loved for so many years. So that's the latest on Aaron Rodgers. So any Jets fan that said, oh, you're ridiculous for asking that question? No, I was just ahead of the curve, because that's what we do here on the Zach Gelb show. The Zach Gelb show where we're ahead of the curve. People now are getting this soundbite two weeks later. Two weeks ago, I came up with the idea. It's like amazing. I should start a common sports network, a common sense sports network.

That's what I should do. CSSN. Now I'm sorry, it's not like Antonio Brown. The antithesis of common sense with his CTESPN or whatever he does. But it's just like this common sense things where the storyline is obvious and it's right in front of your face.

And for some reason, people just don't get smacked in the face by the storyline. All right, we'll take a break. Got some reactions by what the college football playoff committee did last night, what it means moving forward.

We'll get into that. We will be back in five minutes right here on the Zach Gelb show. All right, I'll get to some college football playoff rankings in just a second. Stu, I got to ask you a question, though. How many fantasy leagues are you in?

I haven't let me guess here. Sure. Three. Nailed it.

Really? Yes, three. Yeah, I felt like you definitely more than a one fantasy league guy. I could see yourself four or five years ago.

It was probably over five. Yeah, right. Yeah, I can see being a compulsive fantasy. And then I almost got to a point where I gave it up because I was tired of it.

But then friend groups from like college and college. It's just fun. Why not? OK, so you're in three fantasy leagues. It is tough to manage more than one fantasy team because if one team's doing better than the other, like the priorities placed on the other or you're winning one league and it's like, OK, the other leagues close. But I know I'm going to at least get one victory.

It's a lot to actually manage. So I'm in two. I'm in two fantasy leagues.

I'm in a work fantasy league here that was organized by Pat Boyle. And then I'm in another league with my home friends, like my close core group of home friends. So there are times, right, when you're in a fantasy league where you're up by so much. And like the middle of a Sunday, you just like forget to check it because your players already set your projected to win by so much.

And you may not check it right away. Right. Like you could relate to that. Definitely.

Yep. So I was playing Manny Rodriguez, who works on the Maggie and Perloff show here on the Infinity Sports Network. And when I was playing Manny, I was up by so much I was kicking his ass that I didn't even think to look at it. And quite frankly, it'd be a little bit beneath me to text Manny and be like, hey, no, no, no, no, no. You lost. Like, I wouldn't do something like that. I'm a mature adult. I would never enjoy someone losing to me, obviously, in something.

And kind of just take the knife and stab it in their back. So I looked at that league today and I looked at that league because I knew I had someone to buy and I had to pick up somebody else. Or I had an injury and I had to put the guy on IR and then pick up somebody else. And I saw I want to go, OK, let me just check the score. I beat Manny. I had one hundred and thirty four point seven, six points. Point seven, six, one thirty four point seven, six. Manny had one thirty four point seven. So I don't know how I got that extra.

I don't know how that did go about. I've only usually seen it like one decimal point afterwards. But I beat Manny one thirty four point seven, six to two. His team having one thirty four point seven. I've never seen anything like that in fantasy football. That is absurdly close. I don't think I have ever had a loss or win by that tie in my home league this year. Not me. My friends, the tide.

So I like since I didn't pay attention to it. Did we tie and they gave me that little extra percentage just because I was the home team like I genuinely do not know how I won this game. And when I pulled my app and I look at the app and I'm looking at my points, let me see. You know, I have to go back and do the math later. I'm not going to do this right now and bore you guys with the the math already.

The fantasy football three probably. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. Now, I'm not going to do that, but I would love to see that I actually beat him or did I just win because we were tied. And maybe there's a rule in the boil rules where he just like if if you're tied, one team has to win it.

Whoever is the home team. So I did tweet that out today. I did not even text many. I tweeted it out. Hey, you know, Maggie Gray and Andrew Perloff, can you get my dear friend? See, I'm a nice guy. Manny Rodriguez, some breakfast this week, please.

I heard he had a tough fantasy loss this past week. And it makes me seem like I'm actually paying attention to this thing. I sent it out on a Wednesday because I wasn't paying attention to it. So many Rodriguez, if you want to give. If you want to give Maggie and Perloff a call tomorrow, eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. And just ask Manny how he's doing. We've got to check on friends here when other friends are down and out. We've got to be nice people. We've got to go check on friends.

All right. Let's get to the college football playoff rankings. So I don't really have that many big takeaways from last night. I thought they got the 12 teams right. If you want to say the order is a little messed up.

OK. Be my guest. But I thought my biggest takeaways were this. Georgia, after their second loss, being ranked the 12th team, even though they're on the outset looking in because Boise State gets in because they would be the conference champion, the five highest ranked conference champions do get in. I do think it's encouraging for Georgia that they went out being 12th in their lowest moment right now, that they would still make the college football playoff.

I also wanted to see last night where Indiana would be and Indiana. The reason I was so intrigued by they had their biggest game of the season next week up against Ohio State. So if Indiana was kind of closer to 12, then they were to one.

I would say, hmm, I don't give the committee the benefit of the doubt. To keep Indiana and if Indiana, let's say, got steamrolled by Ohio State in a few weeks. The fact that Indiana was ranked five by the committee and fifth by the committee makes me think that even what they lost to Ohio State, as long as Indiana wins their next game after that, that they will be in the college football playoff.

And the other two things that I learned from last night is that there's no doubt about it. The ACC is only getting one team in. I didn't think that was up for much debate when they get two teams in, but the committee obviously favors Miami over SMU. I thought there was a case maybe SMU would jump Miami, but I thought because of the Brandon Cam Ward that Miami would still get the ranking.

But it really doesn't matter. Assuming we see Miami and SMU play in the ACC title game, the winner of that game will get a spot. And they'll be, I think they'll be the fourth by.

I do. I still think the winner of the Big 12 is going to be the third by. I have slightly thought through most of the year the Big 12 is better than the ACC. And then finally, I look at the Big 12.

Is there a path in the question that we raised? Is there a path for the Big 12 to get two teams in the college football playoff? Because if that happens, then there's going to be one fewer team from the Big 10 or the SEC that gets jabbed out because of the fact the only way that it can happen, Colorado is ranked 17th in these rankings, BYU is ranked 6th, so BYU is right on the line. They're right smacked in the middle of the rankings. If BYU suffers one loss, are they out? Is the question.

And I would tend to think that would be yes. But if BYU keeps on winning their undefeated in the Big 12 championship game, and let's say they lose by a field goal to Colorado, then who will be the team that's on the outside looking in? So that's still what's fascinating to me is can the Big 12 get two teams in? We know the ACC championship will determine the only ACC team that gets in. And then I think if you're an Indiana football fan, you should feel good about Indiana getting in regardless if they have a good showing up against Ohio State or not. So at the end of the year, I do think these will be the teams that get it. Oregon, Ohio State, Texas, Penn State, Indiana, Tennessee, Notre Dame. Miami, Alabama, Ole Miss, huh. And I will say, but hold on, I got to redo this, I got to get the Big 12 champ in.

So let me just do it this way. Hey, here I think your conference champs are going to be. I think Oregon will be a conference champ in. I do think that you will get, you know what, I have your 12 teams. Let me just do this.

I'm doing this on the fly. Oregon in, Ohio State in, Texas in, Penn State in, Indiana in, Notre Dame in, Miami in, Alabama in, Ole Miss in, Georgia in, Boise State in, and I'll say Colorado wins the Big 12. Those are the 12 teams that I think are going to get in. So I don't think Tennessee will get in. I think they're going to lose to Georgia this weekend. And I think BYU is going to be out and Colorado will get in. Outside of that, Oregon, Ohio State, Texas, Penn State, Indiana, Notre Dame, Miami, win in the ACC, Alabama, Ole Miss, Georgia, Boise State.

I think those, with Colorado, I think are going to be the 12 teams that get into the college football playoff. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb's show on the Infinity Sports Network. We'll come on back. We will discuss Anthony Richardson.

Update time first. Here's the act man, Rich Ackerman. Alrighty, it's time to answer Ask the Pros question of the day. It's brought to you by O'Reilly Auto Parts.

AJ in Indianapolis says Zach, do you think Anthony Richardson will definitely be the cult starting quarterback next season? You can submit a question by tweeting at INF Sportsnet or at Zach Gelb using the hashtag Ask the Pros. Think O'Reilly Auto Parts for all your car care needs. Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people. At O'Reilly Auto Parts.

O-O-O-O-Reilly Auto Parts. No, I don't. I don't think he'll definitely be the quarterback next year. I think he'll be on the roster. I think he will have a chance to win the job. I don't think they're going to be drafting a quarterback in the first round, but I think they're going to bring in a veteran who can seriously go on out and win the job week one.

I do. And I think they're going to give him every opportunity to win the job and every opportunity to prove them wrong. But I really think this coaching staff is out on Anthony Richardson. And they don't believe that Anthony Richardson is the guy in Indianapolis. And it's kind of crazy that the cult's general manager, Chris Ballard, is still the GM. Chris Ballard, he has been there a long time. Like, Stu, if you had to guess, just take a guess. What year did Chris Ballard become the GM in Indianapolis?

Wow. Let's just say 2012. 2017. Ed Grigson, remember? Grigson, yeah. Ryan Grigson with the whole Andrew Luck disaster. But he's been the GM there since 2017.

That's right. For a guy to be a GM since 2017 in this league with not a lot of success, like, you look at it, Ryan Grigson, since being the GM of the Colts, they've made the playoffs two times. You make the playoffs two times in one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, now they're going to miss it this year, eight years on the job. How many GMs are able to be the GM for that long and, by the way, only have one? One playoff win. One playoff win they lost in the wildcard round the other time. How are you still the general manager and your one playoff win was up against the Houston Texans in the 2018 season?

21-7 and then you lost to the Chiefs the following week 31-13. You want to talk about a GM that has really stayed around longer than anyone could have expected, it's Chris Ballard. And everyone has positive things to say about this guy. No one ever says a bad word about Chris Ballard. But this is another play that they've missed on. So I think they're going to try to give him every chance. But what can you really do when the coach just doesn't like the quarterback? And that's what I think it is with Shane Steichen.

And if you want to say I'm wrong on that, then my retort to you would be this. Why did they bench him? Because we could see a player have a bad moment on the field. And if the coach believes he's the guy and he's the franchise quarterback, that they wouldn't publicly humiliate him for two weeks and sit him down. But when you don't believe you got the guy and then the guy taps out and quits on a play, you're going to then sit him down because you don't believe he's your franchise quarterback. So for the Colts to tell me that Anthony Richardson is going to be their guy moving forward, no. These next seven games, he has to prove to the coaching staff that I could still be the dude.

I could still be the guy that could go on out there and be a franchise quarterback. But this is what dysfunctional teams do. They keep the player and they keep the regime that drafted the player and they keep on running it back. Like they'll bring in someone, as I said, to compete with Anthony Richardson. But next year, let's say if Anthony Richardson is the starter. You're keeping a coach who doesn't like the quarterback and you think that's going to work long term, even if Richardson balls out here in the final seven games and Steichen then starts to say, hmm, I actually like Richardson more than I thought. The moment there's any adversity next season, you're going to be in the same damn spot as we are here right now.

So I don't even have to say even with your organization, the Raiders, that as dysfunctional as they are, they've made a lot of stupid decisions. You even have to laugh at this dysfunction with the Indianapolis Colts because two weeks ago, they tell you we're not going to bench Anthony Richardson. Then they bench him. Then we're going to Joe Flacco. Joe's our guy for the rest of the season. And then today or yesterday at the Richardson's back on, he's going to be starting for for the rest of the season. It's like, what are we doing here?

How are you going to have any success? When in two weeks you've gone back and forth on your word, I don't know, seven times, this is even the Raiders, I think are better than this. I was going to say the Raiders have been flip flopping quarterbacks all year, but at least it's not something where they're like, oh, we're going to keep that. No, like they just make the change, like they went bad play. Yeah, they they're sticking with Gardner Minshew after the bye week. OK, fine. But it's not like, OK, we're going to Desmond Ritter and it's like, oh, never mind.

It is Minshew. So, yeah, it's definitely not the same competence, which is kind of shocking from the Colts. And even if I'm trying to see the good in the Colts plan, because the Colts thought to themselves, so they made this move, they were four and four. And they made this move thinking, OK, the next four games are the toughest games on our schedule, you know, remaining the rest of the way. We played Minnesota, we played Buffalo, we played the Jets and we then played the Lions. We just got to go two and two. We go two and two. We could be six and six and we got to win three games down the stretch to have us make the postseason up against New England, Denver, Tennessee, the Giants and Jacksonville.

Right. But even if you made the playoffs Indianapolis, where are you going? No one looks at this team and says, hey, Super Bowl. No one looks at this team and expects you to even make the playoffs or even win a playoff game. So you went to Joe because Joe's the veteran, Joe's the professional, and Joe last year was able to go on a good run in Cleveland. But that Cleveland team from where they were last year is much better than this Colts team that they have this year. So you went to Joe.

And. The Minnesota game showed you why the decision was wrong, if we're going to be there. Because Flores is defense.

It actually was the mistake to do it then. Because of the fact that Richardson's more mobile. It's like Joe Flacco is going to be running for his life in this game and he can't run. But you lost the game 21 to 13. When you make that change, you can't lose the game because of your offense. And they lost that game because of their offense.

And then you can't just make the change and rip off the Band-Aid after one week. So you go back up against the Buffalo Bills, who are just a much better football team. You had no chance. But the plan was to go two and two. And if Joe Flacco gives you a better chance to win than Anthony Richardson, if that's why you did it, then, yeah, Joe Flacco should be starting up against the Jets this week. But now at four and six, the odds of you making the playoffs, like, are you going to go two and two? You beat the Jets. Are you going to beat the Lions?

I would say no. So you're probably, you know, at best case scenario, going to go one and three in this stretch. So it's like the Colts said, hey, we're going to do everything to try to make the playoffs this year. And then after two losses, hey, we're actually going to blow up that plan. We're going back to the future.

We're all along if you're being fair and if you're being honest. And I know sometimes football teams, they get caught up in these situations thinking, oh, we're in it. We can make the playoffs. If you're a good GM, if you're a good president of football operations, you're a good head coach. You truly know what your team is capable of. And I know you could see the optimism and sometimes you could be biased.

But I would say this to Chris Ballard and Shane Sike and looking back at the decision. Hey, if you guys made the playoffs, what is it going to accomplish? Like, what are you doing once you make the playoffs? And if they're being fair, we're probably losing wild card weekend. So you're jeopardizing the future of the franchise and evaluating to see if Anthony Richardson is the guy. To go make a postseason where you're going to go home and extend your season by one extra week. And that's not even a guarantee. And you look back and if you could say, oh, well, Zach, you should always be trying to win.

And I can understand that. Right. Fans want to see their teams win. Ask the Giants how that worked out for them.

Right. Like the Giants made the playoffs. They want a playoff game. And they were already out on Daniel Jones then because they won that playoff game, had to give him this contract.

And now it's one of the worst deals in the NFL. So just because you make the postseason doesn't mean you're actually close to being a contender. Doesn't mean you have your franchise quarterback. And I know in this case, they're sitting down Richardson and they're going to Flacco. But going to old man Joe Flacco, who we like.

Right. What was that going to accomplish? Even if you made the playoffs, what was that going to do for your franchise?

And the answer was nothing. Nothing outside of maybe make you feel good for an extra week before you get smacked by whoever you play in the AFC. So that's why this whole logic was faulty from the start. Because even though I have said now for three months, I think Anthony Richardson is a social media quarterback and I don't believe in him. You are deserving of an opportunity to prove it and you should get a full season to prove it. Last year he got hurt. I know he's banged up a little bit this year, but he was back and healthy. And yes, he looked out of shape. Yes, he looked tired.

Yes, he quit on his team. I'm not defending any of those things. But when the alternative is to put a quarterback in who's not going to lead you to the playoffs and is old. Why would you sit the youth?

I would rather see the unknown. Even though I don't think Anthony Richardson is going to be any good and see what he's capable of. Instead of this blip of sitting him down for two weeks and now putting him back in. So it even now I imagine I lose this game to the Jets, which is on the table. They could lose to the Jets this week.

I'm not saying you should feel confident. And if you're the Jets, I'm not saying you should feel confident in the Colts. But can Anthony Richardson lose this game up against the Jets this week? Absolutely.

He can. And can you imagine in this circus that is the Colts. If let's say Richardson is just horrible, are they then going to go back to Flacco?

Like, I don't think they would, because at this rate, then you'd be four and seven. You know, your season's over. But then you say once again, what did this accomplish? What did this prove outside of even though we don't think he's a guy and he's proving he's not the guy?

We could have seen more evidence. We could have seen him play more and at least get in the reps. Because Richardson hasn't played a lot at Florida, didn't play enough in Indianapolis, didn't play enough. And there are maybe like two or three games where he looks really good.

And people then think, oh, that's going to lead to a career of greatness, faulty logic. That's what I think of around Anthony Richardson's entire career. He was never as good as what people thought he could be at Florida because that one game up against Utah, one of the game. The Colts thought, oh, they had their guy. That's why they drafted him. They quickly realized they don't have the guy, but they're not letting him play. So now they're going to let him play again. And probably Shane Steichen will be proven right that he's not the guy. But are you going to draft the first round quarterback this year? Potentially.

But you're not going to get your Doris Sanders or Cam Moore unless if you trade up. And I don't think the Colts right are going to have their guy moving forward after this year. So it's another. Wasted. Season. It's another year. It kind of falls in line with Chris Ballard's tenure. Another year where. There's not a lot cooking there. But yet everyone's going to keep their job outside of what? Maybe you run the quarterback back for another year and then by midseason, he won't be the quarterback again. Just what a disaster. Seriously. What a disaster.